Report from the Dean of External Relations Report

Report from the Dean of External Relations

Introduction

Engaging globally is one of the priorities of the European University Institute. This goal is pursued through graduate education, fellowship programmes for early-stage researchers and young global policy leaders, professional training courses for practitioners and policymakers, international research projects and high-level policy dialogue initiatives. In 2019, the EUI created an external relations and support function, through the appointment of a Dean of External Relations and the recruitment of an External Relations Dean of External Relations: Professor Bernard Hoekman Officer. The overall objective of the EXTS is to create a supportive framework for all EUI members interested in pursuing a collaboration with outside partners, and to strengthen the EUI’s international profile as a leading European higher education and research institution in the social sciences. More specifically, external relations is meant to:

Develop an operational framework to contribute to the realisation of the EUI’s broader external strategy; Provide strategic advice to EUI Management on issues concerning internationalisation and stakeholder engagement; Engage with potential partners on opportunities for international cooperation on research, training and international mobility; Maintain institutional contacts with national authorities in Croatia, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Hungary and Slovakia, to encourage them to become EUI Contracting States. Slovakia joined the EUI on 6 December 2019; S upport staff within academic units and administrative services in

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identifying, developing and managing partnerships with a variety of relevant stakeholders, while ensuring enhancing quality-assurance and due diligence of potential partners; • Expand opportunities for EUI staff, master’s students, Ph.D. researchers and post-doc and policy fellows to participate in international research projects, to find relevant job placements, through strategic partner engagement; • A ssist in making the EUI’s School of Transnational Governance (STG) a success, by increasing the impact of the events and outreach activities offered by the School and strengthening relationships with potential partner institutions outside Europe, including policy-makers, young leaders and practitioners; • S trengthen the EUI visibility (name recognition) with key audiences (academia, policy-making, civil society) through participation in international policy dialogues. Four core principles informed the pursuit of these goals: • L everage EUI strengths. Activities build on the features that distinguish the EUI: its transnational identity, its stature as an inter-governmental academic organisation and its solid linkages with the European policy-making; • Partnership-centric. Engagement with leading academic institutions and international organisations, with an emphasis on actors outside

Europe, to develop joint activities of mutual interest; • Ownership and coherence. Alignment of potential partnerships and internationalisation initiatives with the interests of the EUI community (academic units and administrative services); • Additionality. Activities should minimise the burden on the existing human and financial resources.

EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE

EUI partnerships

Currently, the EUI has 89 active partnership agreements with different categories of actors in Europe and worldwide. In 2019, the establishment of ten new partnership agreements were supported with higher education institutions and international organisations in Europe and across the world, including College of Europe, Hertie School, Graduate Institute Geneva, Keio University Kyoto, European Commission, European Investment Bank, Secretariat General of the Andean Community, and UNCTAD. EXTS also identified and engaged with other potential partners from different international constituencies, which could lead to the establishment of impactful strategic partnerships in 2020, with a focus on partners in the Western Balkans, Africa, India and the Caribbean.

Outreach events

In 2019, the EUI participated in several international events, organised by partners or by the EUI. These spanned all regions of the world. Several of the activities were related to the School of Transnational Governance, which is a major asset in the internationalisation of the EUI’s activities, mainly in the areas of graduate and executive education, fellowship programme and policy dialogues.

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